The first 27 satellites in Amazon’s effort to create a space-based internet network have finally made it to orbit, paving the way for the company to attempt to compete with Elon Musk’s well-established Starlink service.
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket lifted off late Monday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, delivering the satellites into orbit around the Earth. They are the first batch of what is expected to be a total of 3,226 Kuiper satellites in the network.
Even that would pale in comparison to Musk’s network. Starlink already consists of more than 8,000 satellites, which were thrust into space by 250 different SpaceX launches. The service now has more than 5 million users.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has said there is “room for lots of winners” in the satellite internet space, and his company has claimed it is more focused on “unserved and underserved communities around the world.”
Amazon is supposed to launch the first half of the network by mid-2026, a deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission. The CEO of the ULA told Reuters that there could be as many as five more Kuiper launches this year. But the Kuiper project is reportedly working through production problems, which could hamper progress towards its goal of filling out the constellation.
Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane.
